


A Piece of Art

by americandreamboat



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Art, Art thief, Bisexual Spencer Reid, I don't know how ao3 works yet so bear with me, Kidnapping, M/M, art heist, moron OC, season 5, spencer is morosexual
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2019-10-05 02:22:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17316260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americandreamboat/pseuds/americandreamboat
Summary: everyone's favorite bisexual disaster, Spencer Reid, meets a stranger on the other side of the curtain when he's in the hospital for getting shot in the leg. When they meet up again at a coffee shop when Reid is technically still on the job, they hit it off again and Reid invites the stranger to hang out with him at his job. When the stranger finds out Spencer works as an FBI agent, he panics. Mostly because his job is so much lower than Spencer's, but also his night job as an art thief has its concerns, too.





	1. Prologue (Pilot)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still figuring out how ao3 works so please bear with me!

 

The two men on each side of the hospital curtain were so very different, but neither of them knew it at the time. The man on the right side closest to the door worked for the FBI and had three doctorates. He had been shot in the leg saving someone's life, his job was to stop murderers and serial killers and try to make the world safer. This was Spencer Reid.

The man on the other side worked as a cashier for the nearby art gallery's gift shop. He went to a small art college but never got anything out of it. He had cut the palm of his left-hand practicing cutting out the paintings from canvases. His night job or his lesser known job was an art thief who had stolen many pieces from the D.C. area since he graduated art school. This was Indy Jones-Messer. 

Spencer was bored. And worried. He thought he was all alone in the room, maybe in the entire hospital. He knew his team would be with Hotch, he had been stabbed by someone who was basically his enemy and just dumped at the hospital. A shot in the leg was really no big deal compared to Hotch's situation. 

Spencer thought he was alone until he heard someone humming from the other side of the curtain. He didn't know what the stranger was humming, but it sounded nice. Only his boredom and his situation would convince him of doing what he did next.

"Hello?" He cringed the minute he spoke. The humming stopped. 

"Uh, hi?"

Spencer let out a breath. 

"How are you?" He asked, crossing his fingers. He didn't even know what the stranger looked like, but he needed someone to talk to. He didn't want to hold up the nurses or the doctors. Why not the guy next to him? 

"Um. I needed five stitches in my left hand." The man paused. Why was he talking to this stranger? He was pretty bored. And his hand hurt. He could use the distraction. 

"What about you?" He waited then panicked a little bit. "Wait, you don't have to tell me, sorry." 

He heard the other man chuckle before he responded. 

"Yeah, I'm not going to answer that. It's a difficult situation. Does your hand hurt?" 

"Yeah. I kinda stabbed it with a knife so. You know. Does your whatever's wrong hurt?" 

"I really don't know, but yeah. My whatever hurts. A lot. Can I tell you something?" 

Spencer wondered if this stranger would actually listen to him talk. He felt a little silly after he asked it, but the other man's response was positive. 

"Sure. I really don't have anything to do anyway."

"Okay." Spencer took in a deep breath. "My friend is in trouble. He's also in the hospital, but he's in a lot worse shape than I am. All of our -um- friends are with him now. I wish I were with him now." 

There was a silence between them for a few moments before Indy spoke. 

"That's pretty heavy man. At least you're okay, right?"

"I guess. I just wish I were there with him." 

Then the doctor came in the room to check Spencer's vitals. They both stayed silent as the doctor looked at Spencer's eyes and looked at his leg. 

"Seems fine. Let me just check this other guy real quick," The doctor said as he crossed the curtain. 

The doctor looked at the man's, Indy's, chart and grunted. 

"You're fine. You can leave anytime you want. I'm actually not sure why you're still here, is there something wrong with your hand?" 

Indy shook his head. "No, no, no, there's nothing wrong. I just didn't know I could leave." 

"Mmmhmm c'mon I'll check you out." The doctor walked out of the room, Indy right behind him. 

When Indy and Spencer finally saw each other, it was not what either of them was expecting. 

When Spencer saw the man he'd been talking to, he didn't picture a guy in his late twenties wearing the ugliest shirt he'd ever seen. It was a tie-dye T-shirt with barely legible writing on it in black lettering. His hair was dirty blond and cut pretty short. He waved at him as he left. Spencer almost wished he hadn't left at all. 

On the other side, Indy was confused why this guy was wearing a sweater vest. And what happened to his leg. And how pretty his hair was. Seriously, it was brown and curly and fell slightly past his shoulders. He waved. He wanted to know his name, but he didn't know how to ask. He just followed the doctor out of the room and into the lobby. He thought this was the last he'd see of the handsome stranger. Little did he know. 

 

 

 


	2. Episode Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our new stranger Indy has a client for his little side "business", but when meeting with him and concocting his plans to steal the art, Spencer drops by and they have a little chat and kinda plan out their first date!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the last time I checked, this work had 2 kudos! that doesn't seem like a lot but it really means so much to me! thank you for reading!!

The coffee shop where Indy would meet his client was almost empty, just as expected. There wasn't even anyone at the counter, Indy could see a teenager reading a magazine in the back room behind the cash register. He placed a notebook in front of him on the wooden table, flipped it to a new page and started doodling with a blue pen. he didn't know which piece he would be stealing, but he assumed it would be from the new French impressionist exhibit. His client had sent him an email to one of his several business accounts. The email was instructions to meet at this coffee shop, wearing green and wearing a ring on his pinky finger. The client would find him. The client hadn't given him any other name to call him but Jeffry, which was smart.

When the little bell rang when the door opened, Indy put his hand on the table, a ring on his pinky visible to anyone. He had to borrow a green shirt from one of his roommates, but he was wearing it. Someone sat across from Indy and passed a picture to him. Indy looked up at a balding man in his forties. He picked up the picture and studied for a moment. 

"Berthe Morisot? Nice." He said to his client. The man nodded. 

"You're Jeffry?" 

"Yes," Jeffry responded. He looked confident. He was wearing sunglasses and had rings on both his thumbs. 

He didn't wait for Indy to respond before continuing. 

"200,000 dollars. Get it to me by the fifteenth. Here's my address, leave it in the navy car out front. You'll get the money soon enough." Jeffry stood up and left the coffee shop. He didn't even order a coffee. 

Indy pulled the picture closer to him and pulled out a rough map of the museum out of his bag. He was about to write down his instructions in his notebook, but before he put pen to paper someone sat across from him and said. "Hi." 

Indy shoved all the papers into his backpack as quickly as possible when he saw it was the stranger from the hospital. 

"H-Hi! Hello!" Indy said a little too enthusiastically.

The man smiled and held out his hand. 

"I'm Spencer, by the way. Dr. Spencer Reid." Indy shook his hand despite his shock. This guy was a doctor? He doesn't look old enough to be a doctor. 

"Well, Doctor, I'm Indy. Jones-Messer. That's my last name. Names." Indy wanted to kick himself in the face. Why why why was he so awkward? He can sneak into art museums at the dead of night without sounding off any alarms, but he can't talk to this guy. 

"It's not like a medical doctor, it's in other stuff." Spencer nodded. He had a large cup of coffee in front of him which he held onto with both his hands. 

"Other stuff, wow." Indy tried not to sound so sarcastic but he was very intimidated. 

Spencer nodded a little and looked over the table and spotted the picture popping out of Indy's backpack. 

"That's a beautiful picture, did you make it?" He pointed at the backpack. Indy pulled the picture out of his bag and showed it to Spencer. 

"This one? No, no. This is by Berthe Morisot. It's from the 1890s. I don't think I could paint anything like this..." Indy's voice trailed off at the end as he stared at the painting. He would have to paint it, on another canvas, but make it look similar. 

"Ah. I guess I just don't know classical art." Spencer took a sip of his coffee. 

"It's not classical, it's an impressionist." Spencer's face reddened. How did he not know that? 

"Hey, you don't have a coffee, how about I buy you one?" He tried to escape the subject. 

Indy was about to agree when he saw Spencer pick up crutches to walk. 

"Hey, no don't get up, how about I just go get myself something?" 

Spencer looked slightly relieved and nodded. 

"That might be for the best. It was tricky enough trying to get over here." 

Indy smiled and walked to the counter, alone. While he was waiting for his order he noticed Spencer talking on the phone. He couldn't hear exactly what he was saying but on his way back to the table he definitely heard: "No, it's not a girl, Garcia. The line's just really long. It's not a boy! Okay, it might be, okay gotta go," Indy smiled to himself. 

A few seconds later and they were back talking about whatever. Indy learned that Spencer was a genius. Spencer didn't directly tell him, but he could tell from most of the stories from his youth. 

"Yeah, I'm not allowed in a lot of casinos anymore.  Hang on," His phone was ringing. Indy took a sip of coffee. 

"Yeah, I'm on the way back, no I didn't get a drink for you. I'm on crutches, Garcia! It's already going- taking me longer to get back. Okay, fine. Bye Penelope." 

Spencer put his phone back in his pocket and looked at Indy apologetically. 

"I'm sorry, I've gotta get back to work. Duty calls, right?" Spencer chuckled. 

Indy wished he didn't have to go. "I guess so. Wait," He took his notebook out of his bag and scribbled his number on a page. He ripped it out and handed it to Spencer. 

"That's my number. Please call me later?" He said it like a question. And Spencer answered. 

"I will. As soon as I can, okay? Bye!" He left the coffee shop on his crutches and Indy tried to get back in heist mode. He looked at the hand-drawn map of the museum and tried to map his route, but he couldn't focus. He could only think about the cute boy who was going to call him later! How much later? He checked his phone. no new messages. Battery 87%. It was fine. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, if there are any mistakes please comment what they are and I'll fix them. Thank you so much for reading! I don't know when the next chapter will be up since school and play rehearsal is starting tomorrow. :\


	3. Episode 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer needs to get the guts to call Indy, but he needs to fend off his nosy co-workers first!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry I didn't update earlier! I was going to write at school but fun fact, AO3 is blocked there! Anyway I hope this chapter is satisfactory! It was actually going to be longer but I thought it was pretty long already. Oh well, more chapters to write!

Reid tapped his pencil against his desk. Again. He had been doing that ever since he came back from his coffee break, and the whole room could sense something was off. Morgan was the first to mention it. 

"Do you guys notice anything strange about Reid?" He asked JJ and Prentiss. They were drinking coffee out of paper cups around JJ's desk. They hadn't had a case in a while and everyone was starting to settle down. Actually, they were all perfectly settled by now and were waiting for a new case. Everyone was a little giddy. 

JJ nodded. "Yeah, he's been pretty antsy lately. I wonder what's going on." 

"Do you think he's upset about something?" Prentiss asked. She crossed her arms. While they speculated about could possibly be up, Reid tapped his pencil repeatedly on the desk until Rossi took notice. 

"Hey, kid. What's got you all stirred up?" He put his hand on Reid's shoulder to get his attention. 

"Hmm?" Reid glanced at him. 

"What do you mean?" He asked. He fiddled with his pencil some more. 

Rossi gave Reid a sly smile and walked away. He had all he needed. He sauntered over to the rest of the group to review his findings. 

"He's very distracted. What have you guys got?" 

Everyone shrugged. "Nothing. He's just been like this since his coffee run.

JJ glanced at Reid and back to the group. "I think I've got something." 

They all watched as JJ confidently strode up to Reid and sat on the corner of his desk.

"So Reid, what coffee place did you go to? 

He looked at her intently and squinted his eyes. His first thought was to lie, but why would he do that? 

"Washington East cafe. Why?" He added the why almost as an afterthought He didn't mean to sound so defensive. 

"Just curious, you must have had some really good coffee there, am I right?" 

Reid tilted his head. "No, it was pretty average coffee. It was just the closest place." 

He went back to looking at his computer screen without another thought. 

"So why are you so happy all of a sudden? Did you meet someone?" Morgan suddenly interrupted their conversation, smacking his hand on Reid's back in a friendly gesture. 

Reid's face turned bright red. He tried to cover his face with his hands but it was no use. Everyone already saw his shame and perked up. 

"So you did meet someone! Who is she?" Morgan was giddy. 

"I uh uh I've gotta uh uh," Reid stumbled onto his feet and used his crutches to get to the first room he thought of. the shut the door behind him and took a deep breath. 

"Um, boy wonder? Hello?" Garcia said from her computer station. 

Reid noticed her and was immediately relieved. 

"Garcia oh my god am I glad to see you!" 

"You walked to my office- nevermind, what do you need?" 

Reid took his sweet time fiddling with his thumbs and taking deep breaths. Garcia was about to turn around when Reid rushed over and sat in the chair next to her, he dropped his crutches by his feet. 

"What is it, Spence?" 

"I need to make a phone call. Right now." 

"Go ahead, I won't tell anyone." Garcia shrugged. 

Reid immediately flipped open his phone and took the torn piece of paper out of his pocket. He quickly dialed the number and waited. Garcia was secretly listening but she didn't make it known. 

As the ringer stopped and Reid heard Indy say "Hey, this is Indy" He smacked the phone closed and dropped it on a table. 

"What was that?" Garcia said. She looked almost insulted; as if Reid had just hung on up her. 

"I didn't mean to hang up on him!" Reid defended himself. 

"Him!? Someone that nervous to answer the phone definitely has someone they're romantically interested in on the other end. Spill. Now." 

Reid looked at her quickly, then at his hands. If there was anyone in this building he could trust, it was Garcia. He looked her in the eyes and did indeed spill. 

"When I was in the hospital because of my leg, I met this guy on the other side of the curtain in my room and he seemed really cool. And then I randomly ran into him at the coffee shop today! He gave me his number and now I gotta call him." 

Garcia nodded thoughtfully at his words. 

"And what do you want out of this relationship?" She asked like a therapist. 

Reid's mind blanked. "I don't know." 

Garcia tilted her head. "Interesting. do you want to be just friends, or-" 

"More." Reid finished for her. 

She gave him a sly smile. "So call him, silly!" 

Reid nodded frantically. "Yeah, I gotta call him right now," He picked up his phone and dialed the number into it. This time he didn't hang up or drop the phone. 

"Doct- Spencer. It's Spencer." 

"Hey, Spencer. I was wondering when you were gonna call."


	4. Episode 4

Indy's apartment was in really good shape. His two roommates hadn't had a party in about a week, so the apartment was clean and quiet. Indy was in his room, a large room with a nice bed and a big t.v. set up on the dresser. He was sitting on his bed tapping his foot against the wood floor. It was a big day. Today was the thirteenth, he didn't have much time left. The heist was actually the easy part, the difficult part was his dinner reservations in the evening with Spencer. He was staring at his closet, waiting for an outfit to jump out at him. Should he wear something Spencer would wear? Or should he just wear a regular suit? It was so difficult to just pick out an outfit, what were they going to talk about? He decided he was overthinking it and pulled a random sweater to match some jeans. It looked nice, so he put it on and looked in the mirror. Yup, he looked alright. Not too nice, not bad, either. 

He hopped down the stairs with a bag hung around his shoulder. Inside the bag was the janitor uniform for the gallery and a few other tools. When he left the apartment building he got into his car and drove to a couple of blocks to the restaurant. In the parking lot, he rested his hands on the steering wheel and looked straight ahead. This was a horrible idea. He was planning on doing a heist the same night as a  _date._ (Okay, it wasn't officially a "date" per se, they never said it was a date, but it was two men eating at a fancy restaurant, so it really felt like a date.)

All of Indy's thoughts suddenly got shoved to the side when he saw Spencer standing outside the door of the restaurant. He looked very nice, he had swept his hair back behind his eyes and was wearing one of those jackets fancy professors wear with the little patches on the elbows. Indy tossed his bag in the backseat and opened the car door. His heart skipped a beat when Spencer's eyes met his. It was time. 

"Hey," Indy said. Spencer had his hands shoved in his pockets and he smiled at Indy. 

"Hello, how are you? Sorry, that's a dumb question, um..." He looked at the dark sky and Indy looked up too. 

"There are no dumb questions, right?" He said. 

Spencer turned to look at him and Indy swore he saw a gleam in his eyes. 

Indy almost forgot his heist near the end of the night when they were exiting the restaurant. They had decided they wanted to spend more time together and Spencer said he knew the perfect place.  

_______

"You work for the FBI?!" Indy said as they got closer to the building Spencer said was his job. 

"Yeah, BAU specifically. We deal with serial killers mostly," Spencer replied as if this was no big deal. 

"Oh thank god," Indy said quietly. 

"What was that?" Spencer said. 

"Nothing."

The building was very big. And there were a lot of floors. Spencer actually had to pull Indy into the elevator he was so nervous. The FBI? BAU? What does BAU mean? But then Spencer didn't let go of Indy's hand. And suddenly the feeling of a criminal in the FBI building vanished. Indy held onto Spencer's hand back as they exited the elevator onto the floor Spencer said his office was on. It was a large open floor with many desks and chairs set up. Everything was all dark until Spencer turned on the lights, everything but one room next to what looked like the briefing room. Indy saw a head poke out of the blinds and quickly go back in. He was about to mention it to Spencer when they reached his desk. 

 

"This is the 10th doctor, played by David Tennant," Spencer picked up one of the little action figures and showed it to Indy. "The 10th doctor is probably my favorite out of the new series, but I'll always have a place in my heart for the first doctor, honestly." 

Indy had never seen an episode of Doctor Who in his entire life, but suddenly it was his favorite show. Spencer also picked up other figurines from his desk and explained them, Indy listening intently the entire time. He was sitting on the desk, Spencer in his chair. It was strange, every single job Indy ever had he hated. He didn't like office jobs, especially ones where he had a cubicle, but when he was in a room full of desks he felt perfectly serene hanging out with Spencer. 

"Spencer?" 

Spencer stopped talking. 

"I really like you, but I have to leave in thirty-six minutes." 

Spencer's face dropped slightly. Indy hoped he got that he liked listening to Spencer talk about his figures, he just thought the time could be spent doing something else. 

"I know!" Spencer hopped up and grabbed Indy's hand. He hesitated for a second, but when Indy held his back he got a new resurgence of confidence. Spencer led Indy to the elevator again and pressed the button at the very top. 

"I'm going to take you to the roof. It's beautiful from up there, especially at night, like right now!" Finally, the elevator door opened and there it was the night sky before them. 

There was a bench there, nailed to the concrete floor, which Spencer ran over and sat Indy down on it, he sat down next to him. 

"Where do you work?" Spencer asked. 

"Um. I work in the gift shop at the art museum. I'm a cashier. Seems pretty lame now, considering..." 

"Considering what?" 

"Um. Your job?"

"My job? Oh. yeah, right. sorry." 

Indy tucked a strand of Spencer's hair behind his ear. 

"Spencer, I really, really like you..." Indy whispered. 

"I know, why are you,-oh" 

Indy had shut him up with a kiss soft enough to make Spencer's entire stomach turn into butterflies.

Spencer wrapped his arms around Indy and Indy dug his fingers through Spencer's hair. 

Then there were little beeps from his watch. He pulled away and looked at his watch with a frown. 

His thirty-six minutes were up. It was heist time.  


	5. Episode five part one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reid is being super suspicious and the team is taking notice. This is a two-parter, I'm so sorry!! I just thought this chapter was getting too long and I'm tired. And I haven't updated in a while and thought I'd give you this to hold you over!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't try to write while watching a john mulaney special. anyways sorry this took so long, I made a bad decision about my classes and i'm in a play so :\  
> *Oh yeah I forgot about spencer's injury in the last chapter so just pretend someone who just got shot in the leg can get to the roof of a building lol  
> *Also he is injured, so of course he isn't cleared to fly yet! totally not just for story plot!

Reid's face was beaming the next day when he plopped down at his desk. He just kissed a boy. Well, the boy kissed him, but he kissed back, so he kissed a boy. It was like the story of Cinderella, last night. Indy and Reid spent the evening together, they kissed, then Indy left at midnight. Where to, Reid had no idea. Did he care? Not really. As long as he saw him again at some point, then it didn't matter. He decided to check some news on his computer before they had a briefing. He was looking for linked murders, possibly a new case they'd get, but instead, he found a very popular article from the art world.

"Oh yeah, I just saw that article a couple of minutes ago. Can you believe that painting got stolen only a couple miles away from here?" JJ said from behind his chair. Reid turned around and looked at JJ with a coffee in her hand. 

"Is that coffee?"

"Yeah," JJ said. 

"Did you get it over there?" He pointed to the corner of the large room where there was a refrigerator and counters covered in coffee cups. There was also the coffee maker, which had been there ever since Reid started working there and hadn't ever moved. 

"Yeah?" JJ was very confused. There was always coffee in the morning, why was Reid asking about it today? 

"I have to get some coffee, right now, I had a crazy night last night and only coffee can help now," Reid said getting out of his chair and crossing the room quickly. As he walked he took his phone out of his pocket and went to his contacts. At the counter, he pressed "Call" and waited until he reached Indy's voicemail. 

"Hey, Indy's not here right now, please leave a message after the-" Reid started his message the second he heard the beep. 

"Indy, hi, it's Re- Spencer. I just saw a painting got stolen from the museum you work at and I was just a little worried about you. So call back when you can, talk later hopefully." 

He hung up and went back to his desk where JJ had just left. He did more research on the crime and remembered the painting was the same one he saw Indy with a picture of only days before. It was probably one of his favorite paintings! Reid bit his lip and continued to search for clues from the pictures and articles already published, but couldn't find anything the police hadn't already seen. He wanted to get the team on this, but they were BAU for the FBI. They dealt with serial killers, not art thieves. But he still felt weird about it. Even when they were called into the briefing room he could still only think about that painting. 

"Hello my friendly pals, boy do I have some grim news for you," Garcia's voice rang through the room. She pointed at the screen with a laser pointer at the grisly pictures of dead women. Reid tried to pay attention, but he knew it was going to be a quick case. It was local and there were already mistakes being made by the most recent murders. 

His phone started buzzing. Once. Twice. He tightened his grip on it. Four times. 

"Excuse me, I have to take this call," Reid quickly left the room, gripping the phone in his hand. 

"Hey," He heard Indy say from the other side of the phone. Reid found a spot to lean against the counter to talk. 

"You sound tired, late night?" Reid asked. 

"Ha. Yeah. I got your voicemail, I'm fine. The museum's fine and I have the day off today so I don't know anything besides that," Indy sounded cool as a cucumber. 

Reid smiled to himself. "I'm glad you're okay. I'm sorry it was The cherry picker, you really liked that one, right?" 

Indy sounded like he was choking on something, but he quickly coughed out of it and cleared his throat. "Yeah, I am. It's a beautiful piece." His voice was shaking. 

"Are you sure you're okay? You sound a little frazzled." Reid said. 

"Yeah, I'm a little tired. Late nights, you know?" 

"Yeah I know how that fee-" 

"Reid? What are you doing out here?" Reid was interrupted by Prentiss, who had shown up late. 

"Ihavetogotalktoyoulaterbye. Prentiss, what is up? Everyone is in the briefing room, where I am going right now," He shut his phone and put it back in his pocket quickly. Too quickly. He sped away from a very puzzled Prentiss and out of her sight. 

 

\----------------------------

 

"I think Reid has a girlfriend," Prentiss said. 

Morgan's jaw dropped. "No!" 

"Yes!" JJ added. They were all traveling in a bureau car Prentiss, JJ, and Morgan at the wheel. Prentiss in the back seat. Rossi and Hotch took a separate car, one that Reid would be in if he were cleared to fly yet, which he wasn't. 

"Reid does not have a girlfriend, he would've told me!" Morgan was obviously shocked by their speculation. 

"Don't you guys remember a few days ago when I questioned him after his coffee break? He was blushing like crazy. He's hiding something." JJ insisted. 

"That's right! and today I caught him on the phone while you guys were getting briefed, and he freaked out. He was definitely hiding something." Prentiss said too. 

"You've convinced me, wait- you know who would know everything?" Morgan said. 

"Garcia." They all said at once. 

"You guys need me already? Aren't you still on the road?"Garcia said through the speakerphone.

"We think Reid has a girlfriend," JJ said first. Garcia thought about this for longer than usual. Reid was still at his desk doing some extra research on something or another, so Garcia could talk about his special little friend. But should she? There was so much potential gossip! She had a name of the boy and his gender, which was a boy. Male. which meant that  _Reid wasn't straight_ and boy was there so much to work with there. 

"Why do you think Reid has a girlfriend?" She said instead. 

All three of them started telling their own stories at the same time, and Garcia had to shush them. 

"I love you all but SHHHHHHHH!" 

They did. Garcia took a deep breath and told them all very clearly: "Whatever Spencer is doing or whoever he's dating is none of your business, so goodbye!" She hung up on them before they could ask any questions. 

JJ, Prentiss, and Morgan all stared quietly in different directions. They were all thinking about how much they wanted to let Reid have his privacy and also how much they wanted to know what the hell Garcia meant by "whoever he's dating". Whoever? That could mean anything! that could mean girls, or boys, or potted plants or even books. Morgan wouldn't be surprised if he found out Reid was dating a book. 

\--------------------

"Spencer they're on to you and your little boyfriend!" Garcia said as Reid wondered into her office. 

"What?" 

"The rest of the team, they think you have a girlfriend." 

"But I don't have a girlfriend, I'm dating a boy- oh," Reid finally caught on. "Well It's not really a secret, you could've told them if you wanted to." He took a sip of coffee. 

"What!? You're telling me I have been sitting in secrecy for-" She checked her watch, "About two hours about this?" 

Reid nodded. "I don't know. I didn't know it was such a big deal." 

"A big deal!? This is a huge deal! Our little genius is finally dating and he's dating a gentleman. Can I call everyone now and tell them?" 

Reid's face turned bright red. "No, no, no maybe we can tell them later after the case is over." Garcia gave him a knowing nod and went back to typing.  

 

 


	6. Episode five part two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dates, art thievery and mystery and wacky roommates!

The painting was still in his bag. Indy had yet to take the painting out when he called Spencer back, and then he was panicking a little. 

Spencer had noticed the painting before at the coffee shop and figured out it was the same one that was stolen from the museum he works at. He put two and two together, what else could he put together? Indy needed to calm down. 

He laid back down on his back on his bed and sighed. Spencer was an FBI agent, so he wasn't stupid, and there was a higher chance of getting caught. He decided he should cut ties off with Spencer immediately to keep his night job going.

But also he really liked Spencer. Like really  _really_ liked him. Like wake up in the morning next to him and tug his fingers through Spencer's unruly hair and feel his morning breath on his neck. Indy shivered and sat up again, rubbing his arms until they felt warm. He knew he couldn't stay in bed all day, he had to get the painting to his client in less than a day. 

He put on nice jeans and a dark sweater and threw the bag over his shoulder. He checked his phone just once to see a text from Spencer: Have a good day off!!. He responded with: Have a good day at work too!:) and tossed his phone in the bag and put it in the back seat of his car. He heard his phone notification go off but stifled the urge to look at it and pulled out of his apartment building parking lot and got onto the highway. Jeffry's house was a ways away and Indy wanted some time to hang out with Spencer after so he had to be fast.

* * *

The house was what can only be described as a huge cottage. It looked like a little fairy house if the fairy was also a giant. Sure enough there was a navy blue car out in front on the dirt driveway in front of the house. Indy slid out of his car as quietly and unnoticeable as possible and retrieved the bag from the back seat. He pulled his phone out of it and read the text Spencer sent him.

'Do you want to grab some dinner later? I get off early today'

Indy bit his lip and typed out his response before putting his phone on silent.

'Sounds like a date :)'

The bag with the painting was placed in the navy car's passenger seat then Indy drove away, hopefully in time for a date with Spencer.

* * *

Dinner was okay. Indy picked Spencer up from the super legit FBI building that definitely didn't send chills down his spine at all and they decided where to go on the way. They settled on a little Italian place just down the road from Indy's apartment and as the car drove into the parking lot Spencer took Indy's hand and brought it up to his mouth. Indy smiled as Spencer kissed his hand and he picked up Spencer's hand and gave it a kiss too. They smiled at each other for a few seconds before they silently decided it was time to go get some food.  

The restaurant was small and cozy. Indy and Spencer got a seat by a window that gave them a beautiful view of the parking lot they just came in from but they didn't mind. They spent the whole time looking at each other anyway.

"Do you like art?" Spencer asked as he twisted a fork of spaghetti on his plate. 

"Yeah. I used to do it for school, like I was in art school for a while but I left my sophomore year."

"Why?"

"Uhhhh," Indy had two options here. 1. he could tell the truth about his art professor who introduced him to smuggling art but then got him expelled because he stole a piece his professor wanted so he told campus police some phony lie about weed in his dorm that was totally not true! (It was his roommate's!) or 2. He could just lie and say it was money troubles. 

"I had some money troubles. Needed to pick up a job, you know how it goes." 

Spencer nodded his head in an understanding way. "Yeah, I get it. But you have a job now, why don't you go back?" 

Spencer's eyes were wide with hope that filled Indy with a rotten feeling. Did Spencer not like him now that he knew he was a college dropout? 

"I just don't want to." Indy took a sip of his drink. "I guess I'm not really an art person." 

Spencer's mouth twisted up into a smirk. 

"I don't believe you." 

"What?" 

"I don't believe you. You work at an art museum, look at the way you dress, C'mon. You're very artistic." Spencer held his ground on his opinion. Indy didn't know what to tell him. 'Sorry but I'm banned from most college campuses in Virginia because of a rumor my ex-favorite teacher spread about me?'

"I like being a cashier. And I was never even good at anything, all my sculptures looked like Picassos." 

"Picasso is a famous artist."

"So?"

"If your sculptures look like Picassos then they look like famous works of art! I wanna see some of your art, do you have any pictures?" Spencer said excitedly. Indy ran his finger down the silky phone screen in his lap. How was he supposed to tell Spencer he wasn't a fan of Picasso?

"I don't have any art anymore." The college had taken it for evidence, at least that's what Indy's professor had told him. He still had some doubts since his professor was the one to get him expelled. 

Spencer shoved a forkful of spaghetti in his mouth and shook his head. "Den ake sm" 

"What?" 

Spencer swallowed and tried again. "Then make some, Indy." 

He gave such a reassuring smile Indy wanted to jump out of the booth and go buy some paintbrushes. But he didn't, because Spencer was staring at him intently like he was waiting for him to run. So he stayed put. 

* * *

Spencer was noticeably surprized at Indy's apartment. He kept looking back at the white walls and the spotless floor back to Indy. Yeah, his apartment was really nice. There were three bedrooms and a loft and a big TV in the livingroom set up in front of one of the most comfortable couches Spencer had ever sat on. 

Of course Indy did share the apartment with two other guys who were pigs and barely paid their part of the rent. One time Eugene had paid the last three dollars in all nickels. At least he paid it, thought Indy. 

Eugene and Bobby were out for the night, Indy didn't know where, but he was just glad to have the apartment to himself. And Spencer. He had some fun ideas for what they could do like play a board game or watch the new episode of his favorite show or even just hang out on his bed and read books for all he cared, but making out on the most comfortable couch ever was good too. 

Indy finally got to tug at Spencer's hair again. He smiled against Spencer's lips and couldn't believe how happy he was. 

Eventually, they cooled off and retired to Indy's bed for the night. Spencer wrapped his arm around Indy; he was wearing borrowed pajamas of Indy's (flannel pants with an old band t-shirt) and Indy felt completely at peace when he dozed off. 

 

 

It was very early when Indy's phone screen flashed on in his face and woke him up. He blinked until the screen when dark but picked it up and let the let pour over him as he pressed the on button. 

It was a text from Eugene. Not completely unusual of him, Eugene was more of a night person than a morning person, but the attached screenshot with the caption 'HAVE YOU SEEN THIS??!!!???' caught Indy's eye and he opened the conversation. 

He dropped his phone but caught it mid-air so it wouldn't wake Spencer, who was still asleep next to him. With shaking fingers and hands he brought the phone close to his face again to see the attachment again, just to make sure he wasn't imagining it.  

He wasn't. The picture Eugene had sent him was a screenshot from a news article with a picture of a dead man in his mid-forties with two rings on his thumbs, which were posed across his chest and across a very familiar painting. 

The Cherry Picker. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet you thought you've seen the last of me. Three months later and I'm back baby!!! (For now at least)

**Author's Note:**

> If there are any mistakes please let me know so I can fix it!! thank you for reading!!!


End file.
